Anyone But Him
by EmilyHelene
Summary: "I'm not the girl that boys fall for. I'm the type that helps girls like Riley get up the nerve to make a move when it comes to boys like Lucas. I'm not supposed to get my own happily ever after, I'm just a catalyst for someone else's happiness." Joshaya, minor Rucas.
1. Loaded Questions

Anyone But Him

_a Girl Meets World story_

by: EmilyHelene

Chapter 1: _Loaded Questions_

* * *

The sun shone through Riley's window, basking the brightly coloured room in an angelic light. Wisps of dust danced lazily through the air, dancing in the beams. She sat cross-legged in their place, between the pillows on the window seat, but instead of having her best friend seated beside her, Maya was alone.

The brunette was off on yet another date with Lucas, her boyfriend since the beginning of eighth grade, and as always, Maya sat perched in the window seat waiting for her to return so the two could eat copious amounts of strawberry ice cream and analyze the absolute shit out of boys. It had become a tradition of sorts almost like window seat itself.

Her blond hair cascaded down her back in gentle waves, lightened by the surprisingly beautiful April weather New York City had been experiencing as of late. She couldn't help but enjoy the warmth on her back. Even when Riley wasn't there, her room still felt like home: warm, welcoming, and familiar. The only problem was, this wasn't her home; Riley and her family would say otherwise, but being the outsider, Maya knew the truth. It meant something completely different to be a Riley Matthews than to be a Maya Hart and it was anything but an easy pill to swallow.

Riley was sunshine; everyone who met her was taken in by her innocence and saw her awkwardness as quirky and charming. Not to discount Riley in the slightest, of course. Maya loved her more than any other human being on the planet. Her only regret was that she didn't have the same effect on people. If people thought of her at all, it was usually only in passing as the troublemaker.

Sometimes it just got to be too much, especially when it came to boys. She didn't pretend to understand them because she didn't like to chase after things she knew she would never catch. Or at least, she didn't like to admit she did. That would be admitting weakness and that was definitely not something that Maya Hart would ever do, no matter how much Riley goaded her about it.

She didn't get it. Every lame television show or cheesy movie she had ever seen (which added up to be about six dozen more than she cared to admit) had taught her that confidence was key. That even when it gets hard, you have to put yourself out there and wait for the right guy. Unfortunately, in the movies, you know right away who the right partner is. There's no music or strategic cutting to pick Mr. Right out of the bunch, there's just gut instinct and faith, neither or which were all that reliable.

Granted, she was only sixteen. She had _years_ before she had to be stressing over this stuff, but that didn't stop her from analyzing it to death behind closed doors. With Riley, she always tried to stay one step ahead in the boy department. She was the one who told Riley how to flirt, what words to use, the one who convinced her that she should just put herself out there. Whenever she tried to take her own advice, however, it usually ended up blowing up in her face. Rather embarrassingly. Take the Josh Matthews issue, for instance. She saw him, played it cool, and made sure he knew where her head was at. She distinctly remembered him running away from her, quite literally, but perhaps she had been thinking a little far ahead when she had referred to him as her husband. Eh, can't blame a girl for trying. But that was all over now, she had officially given up on Joshua Matthews. Well, as far as anyone else was concerned.

"Hello?" a voice called, presumably from the front door. Maya groaned, squishing her face against the pillow on her lap. She longed to melt into the bench and cease to exist. Speaking of chasing the impossible…"Anyone home, kiddies?" Not him. Jesus, not him. Anyone but him. She would rather have heard her mother's voice bouncing off the walls of the Matthews' apartment, reminding her of the billion and five things she had forgotten to do before she left the house that morning.

"Riley?" he called, his voice carrying through the house, as familiar to Maya as an overplayed pop song. "Cory? Topanga? Auggie?"

Maya did her best to remain absolutely silent, terrified that the slightest noise would alert Riley's uncle and her moment of solitude would be over almost as swiftly as it had begun. She curled her knees into her chest and let out a deep sigh that she instantly regretted.

"Riley, are you here?" Josh's voice rang out again, closer this time. "Riley what-" but he stopped mid-sentence when he got to his niece's room and found a fiery blond perched on the window seat. "Maya?" he asked, clearly confused.

She turned away from him. "Riley knows I'm here. I'm waiting for her to get back from her date with Lucas," she said. "I didn't break in or anything."

Josh ran a hand through his hair and gave a little half smile that made Maya's stomach rise and fall unexpectedly. Of all the people to run into at this precise moment, it just had to be Josh. He motioned toward the empty space beside her. "May I?"

She gave a half-shrug that he must have taken as permission because he slid in next to her soundlessly. She peered at him from out of the corner of her eye as they sat there in silence. He looked the same as always: devilishly handsome grin that she liked to think was just for her, slightly mussed brown hair, and eyes the colour of the sea (equal parts blue, green, and wild). He had grown slightly taller (if that was even possible) and even sitting down, he still towered over her. She tore her eyes away from him, convinced he would catch her staring if she didn't stop.

"What's on your mind, then, Maya?" His question took her completely by surprise. She was sure it had something to do with the fact that it was the one question she didn't want to answer, but she pushed all thoughts of him from her mind, replacing them with her earlier struggle.

"What's on my mind? Shouldn't I be asking you what you're doing here?" she fired back, not willing to give up without a fight.

He shook his head and let out a small chuckle. "I guess that's a fair question," he admitted. "I needed a bit of a break from school, thought I'd pop by and surprise everyone."

"Well aren't you just a model sibling/uncle?" she said with a smirk.

"I do what I can," he quipped, playing his role in their verbal battle perfectly. She smiled at him, but despite her best efforts, it didn't quite reach her eyes. Much to her disappointment, Josh seemed to notice immediately. "What's up with you? You sure you're okay?"

"Well," Maya began, "if I say yes, you'll immediately pry and ask me about it, but you don't want me to go into any kind of detail about it because, let's face it, details are boring and the last thing you want to hear about is some teenage girl's pathetic boy issues. But if I say no, you'll leave me alone and we can go back to our ongoing battle of who is the real sass master."

"So which one is it?" he asked, leaning into her so his left shoulder brushed her right.

"Why don't you guess?" she said.

"Where's the fun in that?" he shot back.

"Are you not willing to look for the fun in it, Josh?"

"Are you going to answer everything I say with another question, Maya?" he shook his head and laughed, but she was far from finished. She hadn't had this much fun in a conversation in _weeks _(don't tell Riley).

"I don't know," she replied. Unable to resist the urge, she quickly tacked a question onto the end of her original statement. "Am I?"

"I'll tell you what I think," he said, clearing his throat and looking her dead in the eyes. "I think that you, Maya Hart, need to vent to something other than Riley's empty bedroom."

"Anything else?" she asked.

"No, that just about covers it. Oh, on second thought," he added, "you're also wrong on two counts. One, I am not at all the prying type and two, details, especially when they have to do with someone I care about, make all the difference."

"When did you get so smart?" she asked, continuing on the trend of the questions. Part of her was afraid that if she stopped, all of the pent up frustration that she'd been hiding for the past two years would fall from her mouth and into the waiting ears of the one person with whom she had no desire to discuss it.

"I've always been this smart, Hart. Someone had to get the brains in our family and God knows they didn't go to Cory or Eric." She had to laugh at that, if for no other reason than the truth in his statement was undeniable.

"Doesn't mean you have any idea how to fix what's wrong," she whispered.

He put a hand on her leg, a comforting gesture if it had come from anyone but him. Instead of comforting her, however, it set every single one of nerves alight with nervousness and made her heart race so quickly that he could probably hear the blood pumping beneath her skin.

For the first time since she'd known him, his voice grew serious. "Try me."

Maybe it was the fact that she'd spent most of the day moping internally, or maybe it was the fact that the one person who was under absolutely no obligation to help her was sitting next to her in the place that felt more like home than her own apartment. Either way, that was how she found herself slowly peeling away the layers of bravado that had kept her safe for all those years and letting herself feel, visibly, for the first time in a while.

"I'm going to ask you something, and you're going to have to forget for a second that you're Riley's uncle and just answer the question, okay?"

Josh looked a little skeptical, but nodded to signify that he would do just that. Maya took a deep breath. This was really happening.

She did her best to keep her voice even, removing the self-pity and slight jealousy that had filled her internal monologue earlier that afternoon. "What is it about Riley that makes the boys fall all over themselves?" It wasn't exactly a secret that Riley Matthews had caught the eye of the majority of the Junior class, except maybe to Riley herself who only had eyes for a certain Southern gentleman.

Josh sat back, resting his hands along the windowsill behind them. His arm brushed against hers gently which did absolutely nothing to calm the nervous electricity racing through her. "Hmm," he mumbled, gently chewing on his lower lip. This boy was _killing _her.

"I mean, aside from the obvious stuff like she's beautiful, and a total sweetheart, and all that. I'm her best friend; I know that."

"What is the guy you're into blinded by the Riley Matthews Express?" he asked, masking the seriousness of the question with a lighthearted laugh.

"Well, no." _Unless you're into your niece which is wrong on more levels than there are countries on this earth. _"I just wonder what they all notice in her so that I-" she stopped herself before she gave away too much.

"So that you can adapt to be more like her?" he finished, looking at her."Why would you want to be Riley Matthews when you can be Maya Hart?" he asked.

"Guys don't like Maya Hart," she said, her voice growing quiet and her resolve unravelling like an errant thread on one of her cheap tops. She refused to cry in front of him, _refused. _

He glanced down at his lap and ran a hand through his already thoroughly mussed up hair. "I wouldn't say that, Maya."

"I'm not the girl boys fall for. I'm the type that helps girls like Riley get up the nerve to make a move when it comes to boys like Lucas. I'm not supposed to get my own happily ever after, I'm just a catalyst for someone else's happiness. I know that sounds really depressing and it's kind of a defeatist attitude, but honestly I've learned not to expect too much from life because it only leaves you disappointed and I have had no shortage of those in my life so far, I definitely don't need any more." She was ranting, she could feel it, but she couldn't stop herself and for the first time she didn't care that she was talking to Josh (of all people) about her inferiority complex and Daddy issues that would undoubtedly send him running. All that she cared about was destroying her dungeon of sadness before it could destroy her.

They sat there in silence, her words thickening the air that hung between them. She feared the worst because that was what she had come to expect.

"I shouldn't have said anything, sorry," she started, doing her best to bandage the situation and backpedal as fast as she possibly could out of the conversation. Maybe he would forget about the whole thing and they could pretend it had never happened. "You're a boy, right?"

"I like to think so," he laughed, giving her one of his mega watt smiles.

"What am I doing wrong?" As much as it pained her to ask, she was too deep to turn around now. Might as well get what she came here for.

"Honestly, Maya, from what I can tell, you aren't doing anything wrong. You just haven't found the right guy yet. Even though it sucks and it's probably not what you want to hear, you just have to be patient."

"I thought I was supposed to be myself," she said, tossing the pillow she had been fiddling with onto Riley's colourful bed linens.

"Well yeah, but maybe a more patient version of yourself." He grinned at her. "Don't sweat it, Maya. Is there someone specific?" he asked.

"I thought you never pried, there Matthews..." she said, calling him out on his not-so-subtle quest for details.

The smirk that danced across his face was a guilty one and his eyes had their usual mischievous glint. "Well..."

"Well, yes but no."

"What does that mean?" he asked.

"It means that it isn't going to happen, genius. It's a dead end, a no-go zone." She laughed, but she wasn't sure if it was for her benefit or Josh's. "Whenever I talk to him, I always say the wrong thing, you know? So he'll never see me the way I want him to."

Josh thought about that for a moment. "Okay," he started, turning toward her and crossing his legs. "This might be a really stupid idea, but honestly, if there's any chance it might help, it might be worth a shot."

Maya swung her legs around and mirrored his position. "How stupid are we talking here?"

"Just keep talking to me, pretend I'm this mystery guy and strike up a conversation." If he suspected she still harboured any feelings for him, he was hiding it incredibly well. She felt her face turn a rather attractive shade of scarlet and it took all of her voluntary muscle control to keep her mouth hanging open in shock.

On the inside she was freaking out, but on the outside, she barely batted an eye. "So how's NYU going for you?"

Playing along, Josh answered, "Oh you know, school's school."

"Don't I know it," Maya muttered under her breath.

"It's like they accept you straight out of high school and everything you think you know about learning is completely wrong. Sometimes I wonder what I'm even doing there half the time."

"Yeah," Maya said, shocked by how upfront he was about it. "I know _exactly_ what you mean. Like, if it was my call, I'd be off travelling the world, not looking at some stupid world map in history."

"Right?" Josh agreed. He smiled at her, a real smile, one that spread across his whole face. One that she happily returned, almost in spite of herself. _Don't get sucked back in, Maya. This is all just pretend. _"I think what scares me the most is not knowing where any of it's going. Just because I'm in university doesn't mean I'm guaranteed a job after graduation of anything. I wish I could just fast-forward to the future, just to check and make sure everything works out alright. I don't need to know the details, I just want to know whether I end up okay or not."

Maya pondered this for a moment. The same sorts of thoughts had passed through her mind on a regular basis. As much as she hated the day in, day out routine of high school, at least it was familiar. It was a routine she had become accustomed to and one day it wouldn't exist anymore. She had never been afraid of the future before, not really, but now she was rethinking the whole principle of growing up. "I think that's where you've just got to do the best you can and have a little faith. If you love what you're doing, the rest will just fall into place."

"You really think so?" he asked, looking down at his hands again. He was fiddling with them and Maya chalked it up to a nervous habit. She had never seen him as anything but the picture of absolute confidence. It was almost disconcerting to see him like this and even though he was the one who was supposed to be helping her, she felt obligated to do _something. _

She reach out for him and closed her palm around his fidgeting hands and met his eyes with her own. It suddenly dawned on her that maybe she wasn't the only one wrestling with inner demons. "I know you're going places, Josh. It's one of very few things I know for certain. You're amazing, always have been, always will be." It didn't feel so much like pretend anymore.

He looked back at her and she felt it through her entire body. The air was charged somehow, Maya could feel it and though she couldn't quite place what exactly it was, something felt different. She wasn't exactly sure who leaned in first, but before she could really realize what was happening, his hands were cupping her cheeks and she was pressing her lips against his waiting smile. His lips were soft and when he tucked her hair behind her ear, it sent shivers down her spine.

She didn't think. She didn't have time. It was over just like that. She'd been waiting _years _for that to happen, and now that it had, she wasn't quite sure what to do about it. Both teenagers pulled back, looking completely disoriented.

"Uh-" she started, thoroughly confused by what had just happened. "What was that?"

"Shit, Maya." He ran a hand through his hair and let out a deep breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding in. _Where the hell did that come from,_ he thought."I should probably go..." he trailed off, standing up and straightening his clothes. Maya sat on the window seat, still unable to process what exactly they had just done.

He was halfway to the door when he turned back around to look at her. If this was the movies, he'd come charging over to her and scoop her up in his arms and tell her that he'd kissed her because she was all he wanted. But this wasn't the movies and she still wasn't Riley which meant that nothing would work out the way that little girls and hopeless romantics alike dreamed it would.

"Whoever this guy is, he's not going to be able to help falling in love with you. If he doesn't, he's an idiot." And with that, he left leaving Maya with even more doubt than before.

"Thanks, Josh" she said to the empty room. The specs of dust floating through the beams of light had it so easy. They didn't have to worry about anything other than the current moment and they were free to drift wherever they wanted.

To Josh, it was probably nothing more than a mistake that wouldn't ever be brought up again. To Maya, it was something else entirely. What exactly, she was still unsure, but she would figure out.

No more dungeon of sadness.

When Riley returned from her date precisely twenty-one minutes later, Maya was ready and waiting in her spot at the window as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. She played the role of best friend incredibly well, nodding and smiling in all the right places in Riley's story of her romantic afternoon out with Ranger Rick and reassuring Riley that she had looked fantastic (even though Lucas had undoubtedly told her over and over) because that was what best friends did.

"Thanks for being here, Maya." Riley whispered, pulling her friend in for a hug. "You always know exactly what to say."

Maya smiled, but for the second time that day it didn't quite reach her eyes. Unlike Josh, however, Riley didn't notice.

* * *

A/N: I am not exactly sure where I want this to go, but I don't think I'm done with it just yet. Hopefully you enjoyed what you read so far! Have a lovely day and if you feel like it, drop me a review telling me what you thought, what you want to see in the future, or any advice/constructive criticism you have for the story.

Happy Writing,

EmilyHelene


	2. Crossed Lines

Anyone But Him

a Girl Meets World story

by EmilyHelene

Chapter 2: Crossed Lines

If Josh had been planning on making a move on Maya Hart it had been completely subconscious. For as long as he could remember, she had been his niece's sarcastic, quick-witted best friend with the blond curls. If she started to move into potential girl friend territory, that could present all sorts of hypothetical problems that quite frankly, he just wasn't ready to deal with just yet. Blurring the lines was a big no-go.

And it wasn't that he hadn't considered it from time to time; he wasn't a _complete_ idiot. When he arrived at his brother's house for Christmas a few years back, he had expected to see her there of course (she and Riley had been inseparable) but he didn't expect her to look so _different. _When he had last seen her, she had been running around his parents backyard in Philadelphia playing tag with Riley. Her blond curls were matted with dirt and her yellow t-shirt was caked with mud. He had been eleven then, too young to really know much of anything about girls and Maya, at only eight, had been too young to be anything other than just another kid.

Since then, he had com to decide she was beautiful. But then again, anyone with functional eyes would be able to tell you that. Seeing her was never a disappointment, but that day it had certainly been a surprise.

He had found his way to the Matthews' apartment almost by mistake. He hadn't lied to her, he _had_ been meaning to visit them when he got some time off from school, but getting a break from the never-ending workload that was architectural engineering wasn't something that had happened yet. Not exactly. New York City was so different from Philadelphia; time seemed to cease and days bled into one another. There was always something new to discover, some place to visit, something to learn, someone to meet and he didn't want to miss out on a second of it. There was a part of him, however, that was a little bit homesick (he would never admit it to anyone) for his old room back home and his mother's cooking. Street meet was great and all, but nothing compared to her Sunday night lasagne.

Thinking about his mother's lasagne took him home, but thinking back on what had happened that day took him somewhere else entirely.

* * *

2 Hours Earlier

When he got to their front door (he had been given a key by Cory the summer before his first year, just in case his roommate ended up being a serial killer because as he had mentioned "You just never know" and he needed a place to stay), he walked in as he usually did but the living room was empty. He wasn't exactly sure what he had come for, but he found himself calling out for his niece first. She was always up for a talk, and maybe a game of Just Dance (which he owned at, thank you very much) for old time's sake.

When no one responded, he investigated further, but from what he could tell, the Matthews' residence had been completely deserted for the afternoon. Except for -

"Maya?" he asked, surprise written all over his face. She looked equally as shocked to see him standing in the doorway and she muttered out an excuse as to why she was there alone. He didn't care, of course, she was practically a part of the family. She had never been one for excuses and maybe that was the first tip off, or maybe it was the vacant look in her eyes, but there was something very, very wrong with Maya Hart today.

He walked over to where she was seated in Riley's nook by the window. "May I?" he asked. She sort of shrugged at him like she didn't care what he did, and he slid in beside the girl who seemed nothing like the Maya Hart he remembered. This girl was hunched over, all traces of confidence buried under a curtain of golden yellow hair and thick black eyelashes. There was something so horribly wrong about it that made him uneasy.

"What's on your mind then, Maya?" His voice broke the silence between them like a rock against the waves, words crashing down on the both of them. There was no sense in beating around the issue, not if he was going to fix whatever the problem was.

"What's on my mind? Shouldn't I be asking you what you're doing here?" she asked, her voice more like the Maya he remembered: sassy, sharp, intelligent. He smiled at that one.

"I guess that's a fair question," he answered. "I needed a bit of a break from school, thought I'd pop by and surprise everyone."

"Well aren't you just a model sibling/uncle." A smirk stretched itself across her face and just like that, she was back.

"I do what I can." Her smirk transformed into a ghost of a smile. Apparently it was going to take more than a little casual joking in conversation to turn her day around. "What's up with you? You sure you're okay?"

She had a killer poker face, he'd give her that. "Well," she started. "if I say yes, you'll immediately pry and ask me about it, but you don't want me to go into any kind of detail about it because, let's face it, details are boring and the last thing you want to hear about is some teenage girl's pathetic boy issues. But if I say no, you'll leave me alone and we can go back to our ongoing battle of who is the real sass master."

_Holy shit. _

If it ever came down to a battle of wits, he may very be toast with Maya as his opponent. For the meantime, he remained unfazed.

"So which one is it?"

"Why don't you guess?"

"Where's the fun in that?" he quipped, enjoying himself a little too much. He was supposed to be helping her, after all.

"Are you not willing to look for the fun in it, Josh?" There was a devilish glimmer in her eyes that made the challenge too tempting to pass up. He had caught on to what she was doing, though.

"Are you just going to answer everything that I say with another question?" Against his better judgement, a laugh escaped his lips and he could see Maya wrestling with another smile in an attempt to keep it from her face.

"I don't know," she said. Hmm, maybe he'd been wrong? "Am I?" came her delayed addition to the sentence. Or maybe not.

"I'll tell you what I think," he said, unable exactly how to phrase what he was about to say in a way that wouldn't send her running. "I think that you, Maya Hart, need to vent to something other than Riley's empty bedroom."

"Anything else?" she asked him, eyes fixed on his own. She wasn't making this easy, that was for damn sure.

"No, that just about covers it. Oh, on second thought," he added, "you're also wrong on two counts. One, I am not at all the prying type and two, details, especially when they have to do with someone I care about, make all the difference."

If she was impressed, she didn't show it and he felt his pride deflate a little. "When did you get so smart?" she asked him.

He scoffed at her. "I've always been this smart, Hart. Someone had to get the brains in our family and God knows they didn't go to Cory or Eric." Her laughter carried throughout the room, filling it with a lightness that he suspected had been missing for quite some time. He couldn't hide the smile on his face.

"Doesn't mean you have any idea how to fix what's wrong," she said, her voice returning to the even, small tone of before.

"Try me." He said with as much confidence as he could muster. Something about talking to her made him choose every word carefully, but around her, it felt as natural as breathing. His hand made its way to her leg, resting just above her knee in a comforting gesture. He desperately hoped this wouldn't weird her out or worse, make her shut down completely. It just seemed natural.

She was quiet for a few moments and he couldn't tell if it was because she was looking for the right words or getting ready to punch him in the jaw. She was hard to read sometimes.

"I'm going to ask you something, and you're going to have to forget for a second that you're Riley's uncle and just answer the question, okay?" He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting to hear her say, but it wasn't that. Still, he pretended, if only for a moment, that Riley was just some girl he knew and not family.

"What is it about Riley that makes the boys fall all over themselves?" her tone was even, but there was something hidden in her voice that made him look a little deeper. He had to think about that one, having never looked at Riley as anything other than the five year old niece who smashed cake in his face on his ninth birthday. As far as looks went, she was very pretty (likely all thanks to Topanga) and had never said a cruel thing about anyone as far as he knew. She was sweet as sugar, but sometimes too much sugar could be, well, _too much_.

He sat back on the bench, hands finding the window ledge and propping up the rest of his body. He tried not to notice the jolt that ran through him when his arm brushed hers. _Probably just a chill from the open window_, he told himself. "Hmm..."

"I mean, aside from the obvious stuff like, she's beautiful, and a total sweetheart, and all that. I'm her best friend; I know that."

"What, is the guy you like blinded by the Riley Matthews Express?" he asked, point blank.

"Well, no," she said. "I just wonder what they all notice in her so that I-" and just like that he saw exactly what she was trying to do.

"So that you can adapt to be more like her?" he asked, putting the pieces together. "Why would you want to be Riley Matthews when you can be Maya Hart?" he asked, honestly. Did she really not see how much she had to offer?

"Guys don't like Maya Hart." _Yeah, he didn't believe that for a second. Guys were too scared of Maya Hart to even think about crossing that line. Like him, they probably preferred their faces unpunched and their egos in one piece instead of sixty billion. _

He looked at his lap, suddenly becoming very interested in the hang nail on his right thumb. "I wouldn't say that, Maya." If he didn't know her, he wouldn't know the first thing about figuring her out. And if he could...but he wasn't going there, not today.

"I'm not the type of girl that boys go after. I'm the type that helps girls like Riley get up the nerve to make a move when it comes to boys like Lucas. I'm not supposed to get my own happily ever after, I'm just a catalyst for someone else's happiness. I know that sounds really depressing and it's kind of a defeatist attitude, but honestly I've learned not to expect too much from life because it only leaves you disappointed and I have had no shortage of disappointments in my life so far, I definitely don't need any more."

While she made a compelling, and admittedly a very eloquent, argument, she was, in his eyes anyway, dead wrong. And he had absolutely no idea how to tell her.

The silence that hung between them was thicker this time, loaded. He felt like an ass for not saying anything. He was the one who had been trying to get her to open up in the first place and now that she had, he was just sitting there like a complete idiot. If anything, he was probably making things worse. He avoided serious conversations at all costs for this exact reason.

"I shouldn't have said anything, sorry," she said, her voice apologetic and tinged with regret. Yep, he was an ass. "You're a boy, right?"

Continuing with the theme of unexpected questions, her latest one threw him for another loop. Where was she going with _this _one?

"I like to think so," he said, laughing.

"What am I doing wrong?" she asked. _Nothing_, he thought. _They're just idiots. _As true as it probably was, it definitely wasn't helpful, but Maya still deserved the truth.

"Honestly, Maya, from what I can tell, you aren't doing anything wrong. You just haven't found the right guy yet. Even though it sucks and it's probably not what you want to hear, you just have to be patient."

"I thought I was supposed to be myself." She sighed, taking her frustration out on one of Riley's gaudy throw pillows. He had never understood the point of those things.

He had to smile at that. "Well yeah, but maybe a more _patient_ version of yourself," he joked. "Don't sweat it, Maya. Is there someone specific?"

"I thought you never pried, Matthews..." She definitely had him there. So much for that.

"Well..." He prodded. Too late to turn back now.

"Well, yes and no."

"What does that mean?"

""It means that it isn't going to happen, genius. It's a dead end, a no-go zone." She laughed even though there was no humour in her words. "Whenever I talk to him, I always say the wrong thing, you know? So he'll never see me the way I want him to."

If conversation was her biggest obstacle, she'd have this boy head over heels for her after five minutes. Whenever he talked with her..._that's it_, he thought.

"Okay," he began. He turned around to face her to ensure he had her undivided attention. "This might be a really stupid idea, but honestly, if there's any chance it might help, it might be worth a shot."

"How stupid are we talking here?" she asked, matching his position.

He did his best to keep his cool, which, given who he was, wasn't difficult. But there was something about Maya that made him second-guess himself. "Just keep talking to me, pretend I'm this mystery guy and strike up a conversation."

"So how's NYU going?" she asked instantly, jumping head first into his idea without any hesitation.

_I want to drop out so badly, but I don't want to waste my parents' money. _"Oh you know, school's school."

"Don't I know it," she muttered.

"It's like they accept you straight out of high school and everything you think you know about learning is completely wrong. Sometimes I wonder what I'm even doing there half the time." He could have ranted endlessly about how different university was from high school, but he didn't want to bore her or detract from her own problems. They were having this conversation for her benefit, not so he could unload all of his school stress on someone who clearly already had too much to worry about.

"Yeah," she said. "I know exactly what you mean. Like, if it was my call, I'd be off travelling the world, not looking at some stupid world map in history."

It was weird, talking to someone who got it. The good sort of weird, though. The kind that doesn't seem to make sense, but does.

"Right?" he agreed, enjoying having someone finally on his side. Everyone else was so caught up in the whole ten year plan bullshit that they forgot to actually live. He didn't want to end up like that just to hang some $150,000 piece of paper behind his desk in four years. He loved what he was learning, he just hated the pressure it put on him and honestly, he wasn't sure he was cut out for it. But he wasn't alone at least and when he smiled, she smiled right back. "I think what scares me the most is not knowing where any of it's going. Just because I'm in university doesn't mean I'm guaranteed a job after graduation of anything. I wish I could just fast-forward to the future, just to check and make sure everything works out alright. I don't need to know the details, I just want to know whether I end up okay or not."

"I think that's where you've just got to do the best you can and have a little faith. If you love what you're doing, the rest will just fall into place." People had told him this exact same thing countless times and somehow, he hadn't believed it until she was the one speaking the words. Trust wasn't something he'd ever been very good at, and if he had to guess, he figured it probably wasn't one of her strengths either.

"You really think so?" He glanced back down at his hands, unsure of how to face her after the earth-shattering realization that without even trying, this girl did things to him that he couldn't fully comprehend. But he wasn't ready to play that ace on a losing hand. The whole point of this fake conversation was to help her out with someone else. Plus, she was his niece's best friend and that was how she had to stay, end of story. Or so he told himself. He didn't realize that his hands were fidgeting until he felt the warmth of her palm wrap itself around them.

"I know you're going places, Josh. It's one of very few things I know for certain. You're amazing, always have been, always will be." It didn't feel so much like pretend anymore." Maya's voice was soft, something he wasn't used to hearing from her.

They looked at each other for half a moment too long, caught up each other's demons. He only took his eyes off hers to glance down at her lips as if it were the physical equivalent to a question he couldn't believe he was asking. He leaned in, thinking with absolute certainty that she would pull away, but she didn't. She leaned into his kiss, the softness of her lips sending him into a frenzy he just _knew_ he couldn't have passed up if he tried. In that moment, she wasn't Riley's best friend, she was just Maya Hart.

When they pulled apart, it was like reality had struck them both in the face. _What was he doing?_

"Uh, what was that?" she asked, staring at him trying to unearth what lay beneath his features.

Just like that, years of carefully sidestepping the issue and keeping the line between them clearly defined fell away. _What had he done? _"Shit, Maya," was all that he could come up with.

She seemed to wince in the most subtle way possible and he groaned internally. _Way to go, Josh. _He ran a hand through his hair as he tried to think of something he could say that might offend her a little less. "I should probably go..." As he stood to go, he cast a wayward glance in her direction. She was still sitting cross-legged at the window, her face turned away from him. Not that he blamed her. He couldn't blur the lines anymore, because there was absolutely no returning from that.

"Whoever this guy is, he's not going to be able to help falling in love with you. If he doesn't, he's an idiot." He smiled, as if that small gesture would undo all of the damage that he had just done, and left her sitting at the window. The sun shone in, illuminating her silhouette and making the devilish girl look nothing short of angelic. His heart was already beating so loudly in his ears, he scarcely knew what to about this recent instalment. _God, she probably hated him for being such an ass. Why couldn't he keep it together for one conversation that had absolutely _nothing_ to do with him? _

It didn't make sense to him. It had been nothing more than a conversation. There had been nothing about what she had been saying or what she had been doing that could have passed for "Hey Josh, you should probably kiss me" but he'd done it anyway." He'd thought he was better than that.

To say he hated himself was an understatement. In a moment of weakness he had totally taken advantage of her and stolen the one thing he had promised himself he would never take from her.

To a university student, kisses meant next to nothing. He couldn't even recall how many he had given out or how many had been taken from him, among other things. It had always just come with the territory and he wasn't about to turn it down. They had been pretty girls (he was pretty certain anyway, there was always a lot of alcohol involved that clouded his memory a fair bit), but he had delighted in the fact that it didn't mean anything. No strings to get tangled up in.

Kissing Maya meant something else entirely. He had crossed a line and he could never uncross it. She might forget about it, but that wasn't likely given the nature of their conversation. He had been completely shocked, to say the least, that boys didn't flock to Maya Hart without a moment's hesitation. God knows if he was her age, he'd have been there in an instant, eager to have his heart stepped on and his ego squashed as long as it was by her. They must have been stupid, or afraid, or both. Whoever this guy was that was filling her thoughts and pulling at her heartstrings was one lucky bastard and he didn't even know it.

He hated himself for kissing her, she probably thought the absolute worst of him.

He wasn't sure what was worse: the fact that he had kissed her when he shouldn't have, or the fact that more than anything, he wanted to do it again.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the delay in updating, I've been trying to find a way to make sure this chapter included all details that I wanted. I know a bunch of you asked for Josh's perspective, so I hope this satisfies that desire. I know that as a reader, I just want to keep reading so I'm going to try and be better about updating. As always, any ideas for the future would be greatly appreciated because this story, unlike most of my stuff, has absolutely no plan (except I plan to throw in some Rucas). Reviews are wonderful and make me write faster! Thank you for your support, so happy everyone is liking this so far!

Happy Writing,

EmilyHelene


	3. Nothing From Something

Anyone But Him

a Girl Meets World story

by EmilyHelene

Chapter 3: Nothing From Something

* * *

The next time Josh and Maya ran into each other, it was as though that afternoon between then had never happened.

Maya sat on the couch in the Matthews living room next to the Riley who, for about an hour, had been telling her best friend all about how awful her English teacher was being about their upcoming novel study assignment. Though she had absolutely no interest in discussing school on a Saturday, Maya knew how much Riley needed to vent so she made an exception.

"I just don't understand why they feel the need to bog us down with three assignments at a time?" Riley huffed, clearly frustrated. "And it's not like English is my only class either, how am I supposed to do this?" She stared straight ahead at the picture of the Matthews family on the wall in front of her. "I'm going to die. This is it. This is how it ends." Her lips were drawn up in the faintest of pouts and her eyes were filled with premature fear. When she was stressed, there was no talking Riley Matthews down

"Riles, stop being so dramatic." Maya was doing her absolute best not to laugh, but even when she was mad, Riley was about as menacing as a newborn kitten. "Just go in and talk to him about it maybe? Or ask Lucas if he'll help keep you focused?" If anyone could keep Riley on track, it was Ranger Rick (even after years of friendship, that nickname was _far_ too good for a girl like Maya to pass up). She wasn't sure what it was that he did, but it worked absolutely every time without fail.

Still staring straight ahead, Riley patted the space to the left of her on the couch until her hand connected with the cool metal of her phone. Her nimble fingers found the keys and easily typed in his number. He answered on the second ring.

"Why hello there, babe," he said. Riley's shoulders immediately loosened themselves and Maya thought she even saw her best friend blink. This was progress, even if she wasn't the one directly fostering it. She was happy just helping out.

"Hi," Riley purred, warranting a mock-vomiting gesture from Maya. Riley stuck her tongue out before smiling at her.

Getting up off the couch, Maya walked to the kitchen and picked at a loose thread on the bottom of her navy blue tank top. Who knew how long Riley would be on the phone, she may as well grab a bite to eat for her troubles. She opened the fridge to examine its contents, knowing her prospects here were significantly better here than in her own house where she was lucky to find ketchup and mustard and maybe some eggs.

She was just digging around the back, looking for the junkier snacks that she _knew _Topanga hid behind the vegetables where her husband would never look, when she heard a voice that made her heart stop. She may or may not also have hit her head on the drawer directly above her, but that wasn't really important.

"Hey niece, what's up?" Riley smiled at him, mouthed "Lucas" and went right back to her phone call. Just as he turned the corner toward the kitchen, Maya closed her eyes and groaned inwardly. This boy and his timing...

"Hey, Maya," he said, noticing her at last. He ran a hand through his hair and she couldn't tell if he was nervous, or if he did that all the time. Surely he had nothing to be nervous about. _Maybe he's embarrassed_, she thought. God, that would be worse. She wasn't _that_ horrendous of a kisser, was she? It was probably better if they didn't talk about it. "About last week-"

She had to nip it in the bud (for both of their sakes) so she grabbed the hazelnut chocolate bar from behind the asparagus, closed to fridge door, and turned toward him. "Look, it'll be a lot easier for the both of us if we pretend whatever happened last week didn't happen. I don't want to talk about it. I was sad, you tried to comfort me or I don't even know what was going through your head-" she was dying to know where exactly that had come from, but she wasn't about to give up her ace and ask him "-but it doesn't matter, because it was nothing. And Riley can _never know,_ got it?" she said, pretty impressed that she had been able to hold it together. Even after all this time, merely standing next to him made her come unglued and it was quite possibly the most annoying sensation that she desperately wished would go away. Stupid feelings.

Josh just stood there staring at her, trying to take in what she was saying, analyze it, and churn out an appropriate response without coming across as a total idiot. He wasn't liking his chances. "If you want to forget it," he said, looking her in the eyes, "then it never happened."

"What never happened?" Riley asked, coming back into the room. Her phone was in her hand and her conversation with Lucas was clearly over, unluckily for her uncle and best friend.

"I never took this chocolate bar from your mum's secret stash behind the asparagus," Maya said, bringing a single finger to her lips. Riley rolled her eyes.

"One of these days she's going to catch you and I'm not going to do a thing about it," Riley said, shaking her head. She reached forward and broke off a chunk of the chocolate bar and popped it in her mouth.

"How's NYU, Uncle Josh?" Riley asked. "Sorry if I was rude to you before, I've got a lot going on at school and Lucas is going to swing by to help me try and make sense of it."

For a split second, a look of uneasiness crossed the older boy's face but just as quickly as it had arrived, it was gone. Riley probably hadn't even caught it. But Maya had. He shot his niece a wide smile. "School is school, as always, niece."

"Don't I know it!" Riley exclaimed, for the first time understanding the mutual disdain between Maya, Josh, and their respective institutions. School was difficult sometimes and teachers didn't always do their best to make it easy for their students. It was something that had never occurred to her before, and now that it had, she really wished it hadn't. "Sometimes it seems like teachers don't even care that we have lives outside of school!"

Maya was proud of her girl for finally coming around, but it was a little unnerving for Riley to start to develop a dislike (no matter how small) for education. That was the blonde's job, after all. Riley was supposed to be the horse, not the astronaut.

Suddenly, a voice crackled to life over the speakers. "Riley, it's me." Riley perked up at the sound of her boyfriend's voice, even if it was only through a speaker. _Cheesy as it is__, _thought Maya, _I want a love like that one day._ Her eyes flickered to Josh who held her gaze for a moment before looking away. _Pretend that it never happened and it won't hurt. _

Riley walked over to the door and pressed the button on the speaker. "Come on up, babe."

* * *

Josh knew that when he had asked the crash at the Matthews for a couple of days while his roommate's girlfriend came over, running into Maya would be inevitable. He almost expected it every time that he walked into the living room and when he didn't find her right away, something overcame him. Disappointment, maybe? He couldn't quite tell.

He was still trying to make sense of what exactly had happened the week prior. There was still absolutely not explanation for his rash actions, but Maya had gone along with it, so it couldn't have been all bad. Even still, he wasn't about to ask her about it. Despite what his grades might show at the present moment, Joshua Matthews was far from stupid.

When he finally did run into her, all that he could see of her were her socked feet. One had a kitten playing dominos on it (which surprised him) and the other had bright yellow and purple stripes (which didn't). He smiled inwardly, and called for his niece, pretending not to notice the blonde with the mismatched socks. He was dying to say something to her, but with Riley in the room that wasn't about to happen. She would only have asked questions that he couldn't answer.

She had told him to forget that it ever happened, and while that sounded good in theory, he knew that it was next to impossible in practice. He couldn't get it out of his mind, so when Riley and Lucas set up shop at the kitchen table and Maya headed to Riley's room, Josh followed her.

He found her seated at the bay window just as she had been before, but this time there was a sketchbook and a charcoal pencil in her hand in place of the throw cushion from previously.

"Hey," he started, standing in the doorframe.

Maya looked up from her drawing, mumbled a quick "Oh, hey," and fixed her gaze back to her sketch.

"Can we talk?" he asked, stepping into the room hesitantly and closing the door. Maya sighed and set the sketchbook on her lab, closing it before he got the chance to see what exactly she had been drawing.

"What do you want to talk about, Josh?" she asked, her tone one of mild irritation. He came over and sat next to her anyway, determined to get the words that he needed to say out into the open. No matter the risk to his pride, he had to tell her.

"I just wanted to apologize for what happened last week, it was really out of line." _Then why did you do it? _she wanted to know. "It wasn't fair of me to take advantage of you like that, especially given the circumstances. But," he paused. "There's something that I need you to know."

Whatever thoughts were running through mind, her face gave absolutely nothing away. "I thought we both agreed that it never happened?" she asked.

He gave her a knowing look. "Riley's not here anymore, we're going to have to deal with it sooner or later. And what I was trying to say before-"

"Save it." Inside, her thoughts were screaming at her to tell him, no matter what the cost. It would be so much easier if he knew where her head was at, but that would mean making herself vulnerable to him yet again, and she wasn't sure she was ready to have her heart stepped on for the third time. The first two times were bad enough and she got the feeling that she had just narrowly sidestepped number three.

"Look Josh, it was stupid. We both know that. It didn't mean anything to me, it didn't mean anything to you, so there's no sense in dwelling on it." She said, eyes still staring down at the sketchpad in her hand. "It was both of us, so you don't have to apologize. It was just a stupid thing that happened and it'd be even more stupid if we let it come between us. It was just a kiss," she said. "I'm not that lovestruck fourteen year old who lost her shit at the sight of you anymore, you know," she added for good measure.

He took a deep breath, immediately swallowing his words. "Couldn't have said it better myself," he said, plastering a smile on his face. "Are things any better for you lately?" he asked, changing the subject before he went against his better judgement and did something he would regret yet again.

She tensed visibly and shook her head. "I was pretty uncertain about his feelings until fairly recently, but now I'm completely sure he sees me as nothing more than just a friend. It's okay, though. I'll move on." She chose her words carefully, so as not to give anything away. _I'll move on_. She made it her mantra. "So are we good?" she asked, turning toward him again.

His head nodded, but his heart wasn't so sure. Things were better this way, he knew. She was right. No one would get hurt, or at least that's what he tried to tell himself.

"Now can we change the topic of conversation?" she asked, finally looking up at him at staring him right in the eyes. Her expression was unreadable.

"Actually, I have some engineering communications homework to finish up," he said, an apologetic expression on his face. "But we'll have to hang out some time soon, give you a tour of NYU or something." He knew she had applied there and if all went as expected, would be studying there come September. It was only May though, so she still had a few weeks before the deadline for acceptances.

Maya smiled. "Yeah, sure. I should probably go check on Riley and Lucas, make sure they're actually planning her projects and not their futures." Riley Matthews was a notorious Pinterest addict and had a slew of boards dedicated to every aspect of her life. Lucas, bless him, had taken seeing her wedding board like the southern gentleman he was, but even he had his breaking point. Not only would she be helping Riley get back on track, she'd be sparing Ranger Rick from picture after picture of chiffon dresses and if that wasn't friendship, she didn't know what was.

In spite of their conversation, he left her at the window feeling more confused than he had when he had walked in. Why had he even crossed this line in the first place? Maybe some things were better left unspoken.

* * *

Back in the living room, Riley and Lucas were snuggled up together flipping through pictures on Riley's iPad. Just as she had suspected, Lucas had his arm around his girlfriend and was staring at her, rather than at the screen she was trying to show him.

"Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Sundance," Maya said, bounding down the steps. They both looked up at her at the exact same time and smiled. "I have a question for your boyfriend, Riles."

"Shoot," said Lucas, playing along.

"You got any cute friends in need of Saturday night plans?" she asked, sitting down on the arm rest of the couch.

Riley perked up instantly. "Does this mean we can finally go on that double date I've been bugging you about since forever?" she asked eagerly.

"If Lucas can come through, then sure."

"Let me see what I can do." He smiled, grabbing his phone. Riley set the iPad down and she could swear she saw Lucas sigh a breath of relief.

"Perfect," she said. If she was going to move on, it had to be soon.

"Have you met Kieran?" he asked, showing her a picture of a good-looking blonde with a mega-watt smile.

"No, but I certainly wouldn't mind if you introduced us."

Undoing three years of unrequited love in a single Saturday night was going to be easy, right?

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the delay, but I had a very special request for a new chapter before tomorrow! Happy Birthday, KJ! Hopefully you enjoy this chapter; it's for you! Get ready for Kieran, more undeniably sweet Rucas, and a new distraction for everyone's favourite uncle...what could it be? Don't forget to drop me a review if you like the story, or if you don't, or if you have any suggestions! I am still not entirely sure where this is going, it's kind of writing itself at this point! As always, have a lovely day!

Happy Writing,

EmilyHelene


	4. Double Trouble

Anyone But Him

a Girl Meets World story

by EmilyHelene

Chapter 4: Double Trouble

* * *

"Ow, Riley, don't brush so hard.' Maya yelped as Riley ran a hand through her best friend's curls, separating them.

Getting the blond ready to go in twenty minutes was an optimistic task, but it was nothing that Riley wasn't up for. It wasn't like this was the first time that she'd had to rush to get someone ready. Maya did her own makeup, but Riley had been in charge of hair and attire.

"Okay, now go change," Riley urged, motioning toward the clothes laid out on her bed before walking over to her desk to examine her jewellery. Luckily, the two of them were mostly the same size, a perfect and happy coincidence that they both took advantage of on a regular basis. The dress that lay amidst her sheets was strapless, simple and black with a slight sweat heart neckline that she just _knew_ her best friend would fill out in ways she could never hope to.

Though it had been last minute, Riley, by some stroke of brilliance, had managed to get the four of them a table at the trendy new pizza bistro that had opened up a few blocks from the Matthews' apartment. She bent over slightly to smooth her bright pink and navy blue floral dress, grateful that it had full-length sleeves. There was a bit of a chill in the air tonight and she hated covering her outfits up with jackets. "Maya, you need a necklace or something to go with that, but damn, you look amazing."

It was true. Riley's initial hunch had been correct; the dress fit Maya like a glove, accentuating all the right places while still retaining the perfect amount of class. Maya turned to look in the mirror. Once she caught sight of her reflection, she grinned. "Oh yeah, I clean up good," she said, a little smugly.

Riley bit her tongue to keep from mumbling "well" and correcting her friend who was clearly in too good of a mood to care. Instead she plucked a thick statement necklace with bright coral coloured stones off of one of her jewelry hooks and tossed it to her friend. "Here, try this."

Maya quickly fastened it around her neck, stealing one more glance at her reflection out of the corner of her eye. Riley walked over to stand next to her friend and gave them both a once over. Her nude pumps looked fantastic on Maya and the navy t-straps matched the colours in her own dress almost perfectly.

They looked at one another, flipped their hair over their shoulders, and wiggled their fingers at each other. "Stop it."

The sound of the doorbell rang out and Riley jumped, more eager for this date than Maya was herself. Riley was like this before every date with Lucas: a ball of nerves, wanting everything to be just perfect. She had this perfect combination of excitement and uncertainty, like each date was their first.

"That's them!" Riley said, her voice giddy. She started toward the door but paused when she realized the blonde had yet to move. "Aren't you coming, Maya?" she asked, standing in the door frame.

"Yeah, I'll uh be right there, Riles," Maya said, a smile on her face. Inside she wasn't quite sure what she was feeling. Riley smiled at her friend.

"Don't take too long," she said, her voice teasing, but Maya knew the meaning behind her words still stood. They had a reservation to make, after all.

Once Riley had left, Maya took a deep breath. This was it. She was dressed to the nines, the boy she was meeting was quite possibly one of the cutest she had ever seen, and (if all went well), she'd be over Joshua Matthews by the time the clock struck midnight.

Joshua Matthews. His name haunted her thoughts, and just the thought of him sent her heart racing. She didn't know where the nerves came from. Maya Hart didn't get nervous, she always kept her cool, but even just seeing the boy made her knees turn to Jell-O and she just wasn't quite sure what to make of that. Hopefully she never had to figure that out.

With one final glance in the mirror, Maya ran a hand through her hair and smiled. Fake it until you make it, right?

She was going on a date with Kieran and there was no room for Josh in her head, so she did her best to push him out. With any luck, she may just end up falling for him.

* * *

"I can't believe you haven't started yet," Brittany, one of Josh's classmates said, disbelief apparent in her voice. Josh started to smirk, but it turned quickly into a smile. "It's due tomorrow at midnight, you know that right?" she continued.

"I'm more of a last minute kind of guy," he admitted, fiddling with the pencil on his desk. It was the truth. Josh didn't like to think about things until he had absolutely no other choice. School was usually no exception to that rule, but tonight he found himself focusing on it if only to block out the one thing that was commanding all of his attention.

After his encounter with Maya, it was taking all the strength he had not to drive himself crazy thinking about the what-ifs and the could have beens. If she didn't want him, he could respect that, but he just had this feeling in his gut that whatever was going on between them wasn't over yet. In the meantime, he distracted himself with his Engineering Comm homework and Brittany Powell.

The girl whose face filled his computer screen was beautiful in all the ways that societal convention said women should be. Her long brown hair was tied back in a messy french braid and her eyes were deep blue and lit up when she smiled, her teeth a brilliant white and perfectly straight. She was funny, smart, and a perfect distraction. He'd be crazy to turn down a girl like her.

"See, I can't do that," she said with a laugh. "If I'm not finished it a week before it's due, I start to get antsy."

"Wait," Josh said, trying to make sense of what she had just said. "You mean you're _finished_?"

She nodded, a coy smile on her lips. "Having a hard time keeping up, Matthews?"

"Never, Powell."

Josh looked around the spare room, taking in the little pieces of him that lay scattered about. He crashed at the Matthews a fair bit lately, and every time he did, he'd bring whatever he was working on with him and usually never bothered to take them back to his dorm room. Since September, the little spare room had acquired quite the collection of architectural sketches.

"If you want, I could help you with it?" she offered, her voice shy all of a sudden. Josh turned his chair back around and faced his laptop once again.

"Would you really?" he asked incredulously, leafing through the textbook. It boggled his mind how, as an engineering student, he needed to learn how to "effectively communicate" with the world around him. It was like they weren't giving him credit for being a functional member of society. Still, he needed the course to graduate.

She nodded and smiled at him as if the notion that she had been kidding was too much to comprehend. "What part are you stuck on?" she asked.

Josh looked down at his lap sheepishly. "Uh, one?" he offered.

She rolled her eyes, but the smile never left her face. "Well then, I guess we'd better get started."

* * *

Kieran turned out to be surprisingly funny and down to earth for a pretty boy. As it turned out, he knew how to burp the first 26 digits of Pi (which was kind of nerdy, but rather impressive), chew with his mouth closed, and made jokes that weren't inherently racist or sexist. All in all, he seemed to be quite the catch.

She snuck a peek at Riley and Lucas across the table, knowing that they wouldn't notice her looking. The two of them were too focused on each other to notice that this was, in fact, a double date. It was equal parts sweet and annoying. Lucas' arm rested on the back of Riley's chair and she leaned into him ever so slightly. She wondered if they even realized that they did it, or if they just gravitated toward each other naturally. It would be nice to not have to think and instead to just be with someone.

"So, Kieran..." Maya began, picking up her slice of pizza. "How do you and Lucas know each other?"

A small smile danced across his face. This was bound to be quite the story, she could already tell. "Funny story, actually."

"Lucas, should you tell her or should I?" he asked, breaking Lucas out of his Riley-induced haze. He barely faltered, however, and recovered quickly.

"The story of how we know each other or of how we met?" Lucas asked, hinting at a clear difference between the two stories.

"How we met. It's definitely funnier," Kieran said. Lucas flashed one of his megawatt smiles, piquing the curiosity of everyone at the table.

"Okay so basically..." As Lucas started into the gripping tale of how the two became unlikely friends, Maya found herself whisked away to a story of her own. Only unlike Lucas', it wasn't real.

No matter how much she tried to tell herself that Kieran was a good guy, that he was nice, and could keep up with her in the sass department (an obvious plus), that little seemingly inconsequential detail that made it all make sense just wasn't there. Maybe she had seen too many movies that had raised her expectations for love to the absolute outer limits of reality, but she really believed that when she met the right person, there would be a spark between them. Everything would fall into place, and even when it got hard, she knew it would be worth it, because she had felt the spark.

Kieran was attractive, that was plain to see, and it was obvious that even Riley (the pickiest girl she had ever met) approved. So where was this stupid spark? She cursed inwardly, hating that all that was holding her back from this guy was some made up movie magic moment she wasn't sure even existed.

But was that all that was holding her back?

For a brief moment, the green eyes, dark brown hair, and blinding smile of Joshua Matthews flashed through her mind. She groaned, loathing the fact that, despite her best efforts, she still couldn't get over him.

"Maya?" Riley asked, noticing the groan escape from her best friend. "Are you okay?"

Kieran looked over at his date, puzzled by her reaction. Everyone else always thought the fact that he met Lucas while trying to suavely order a hot dog from a cute street meat vendor in Central Park using a hilariously bad Texan accent was hilarious. Especially the part where Lucas totally schooled him in front of the girl and she burst out laughing, but ended up giving him both the hot dog and her number.

"Oh sorry," she apologized, smiling. "I was just thinking about the massive amount of homework I have due for art history next week," she lied, hoping no one else would notice. She had absolutely no art history homework, but seeing as she was the only one of the group enrolled in the course, she knew they wouldn't be able to call her out on it. "I'm so stuffed," she added with a laugh, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear to busy herself.

Riley glanced down at her own plate and nodded. The brunette had barely eaten two of her four vegetarian slices, and Lucas was quick to step in. "Let me help you with that, babe." He scooped one of her uneaten pieces off of her plate and took a bite, only grimacing slightly at Riley's interesting combination of mozzarella cheese, red peppers, pineapple, and sun-dried tomato. That boy was a saint.

Kieran meanwhile had polished off his entire pizza, plus the side order of onion rings he had tacked on to his meal and two Cokes. The kid was like a bottomless pit. "Ready for the bill, do you think?" he asked, looking around for their server.

"Probably a good idea," Maya agreed, standing up and setting her napkin on the table. "I'm just going to pop to the ladies room for a minute. Riley?"

"Yeah, me too," she said quickly, joining her friend on their brief walk across the restaurant.

The moment the two stepped through the door of the restroom, Riley burst. "Spill, what's going on with you?"

Maya groaned a second time, nervous to give her best friend the details she so desperately wanted. "I can't talk about it right now, but can we have a movie night, just the two of us. I know it's a lot to ask, especially since the boys are here and Kieran came all this way...I just need to have a night with my best friend."

Riley's face softened instantly. "Aw peaches. Of course! I'll give Lucas a heads up on our walk back to my apartment, does that sound okay? That way we won't have to walk back alone, and Lucas lives on the way anyway."

"I love you," Maya said, wrapping her arms around Riley. No matter what was going on, Riley would drop everything to be there for Maya, even Lucas.

"What movie do you want to watch when we get back?"

"I don't even know, let's just assault Netflix and see what sappy shit they've got that we haven't seen yet."

"That'll be a challenge," Riley said with a smile and even if it was just for the meantime, Maya knew everything would be okay.

* * *

"So once you print it, it looks like you're just about finished," Brittany said, looking over at Josh who was seated beside her on the guest bed. After about thirty minutes of trying (and failing) to show him the ins and outs of the project over Skype, they both decided it would be easier if she just came over to help. Not that Josh was complaining, really. She had been incredibly helpful and his project would be so much worse off had she not been there to step in and salvage it.

"Thank you so much, seriously Brittany. This is awesome," he said, pressing print on the document and shutting the lid of his MacBook and letting out a sigh of relief. "I honestly had no idea what I was doing."

Brittany laughed, throwing her hair over one shoulder and gave him a mega watt smile. "No problem. I couldn't very well just let you crash and burn now, could I?"

"Actually," Josh pointed out, "you totally could have."

"Well I didn't."

"As a thank you, how about ice cream on me."

"Josh, it's like 10pm," she reasoned.

"I'm sorry, is there a time limit on when it's socially acceptable to get ice cream?"

He had her there, and he could tell. No one turned down free ice cream, no matter what time it was. He just hoped she didn't get the wrong idea about the whole thing and jump to conclusions.

"Just let me grab my stuff and I'll meet you by the front door," she said, collecting her things and putting them in her bag.

Josh nodded, and checked his back pocket where his wallet was snugly tucked, and reached for his leather jacket from the hook behind the door. Even though it was May, you could never tell with New York weather. A chill could always be right around the next corner and Josh absolutely hated being cold. As a kid he never needed to be told twice to bring his jacket, and they were going for ice cream, so it didn't hurt.

When he got to the living room, he checked his phone. No new messages. He wasn't sure what he was expecting exactly. It wasn't like she was going to text him out of the blue. She had made it very clear that whatever had happened between them couldn't happen again, and he had to respect that. Maya had said no, and when girls said no to him, he always listened. It didn't matter that she was all he ever thought of anymore, and one of the main reasons why his stupid Eng Comm assignment wasn't even close to being done before Brittany swooped in to save his ass. He hadn't been able to think about anything else long enough to start it.

"Ready to go?" Brittany asked, rounding the corner from the hallway and coming down the steps into the living room.

Josh turned toward her and nodded, grabbing his helmet from the hook by the front door. "How do you feel about motorcycles?" he asked, a mischievous glint in his eye. Brittany looked back nervously and it became clear to him that she had probably never ridden a motorcycle before.

"Depends, are you going to get me killed?" she asked, folding her arms across her chest.

Josh scoffed, pretending to be hurt by the accusation. "I'll have you know, my track record is absolutely spotless."

"Alright, I'm game," Brittany said, taking the helmet Josh was holding out for her.

* * *

They didn't have too far to go before they reached the Matthews' front door, but for Maya, any distance at all from the comfort of Riley's room and a bowl of buttery popcorn was too much. She and Riley walked in front of the boys, arms linked and heads thrown back laughing at something the brunette had just said. Riley was trying so hard to get Maya's mind off of whatever was stressing her out, and she loved her for it.

But it wasn't really helping.

"I shouldn't have eaten so much pizza," Riley lamented, clutching her non-existent stomach. She turned around to the boys who were walking behind them, tossing her glossy hair over one shoulder. "Lucas, you're going to have to roll me the rest of the way home."

He flashed her one of his mega watt smiles, which she returned quickly. "Just let me know when you're done walking. I'm not above carrying you the rest of the way there."

She blushed, and Maya rolled her eyes at Howdy's cheesy lines. She couldn't even hate him for them, though, because she knew that when it came to Riley, he meant every word. She would probably have taken him up on that offer if she hadn't already promised Maya she would walk next to her all the way home.

"You've got it bad, don't you?" Kieran asked Lucas, elbowing him playfully. Lucas didn't so much as bat an eye when he gave his answer.

"No, I've got it good. I've got it so good."

Even though Riley's face was no longer toward Maya, she could already see the smile dancing across her face. They were perfect for each other. Lucas was undeniably sweet, and Riley had a sweet tooth that would never be satisfied.

A comfortable silence fell over the group after that as they neared the end of their trek to the Matthews.

"Do you know what we should do?" Riley asked, staring straight ahead once again.

"What?" Maya asked, unsure of what exactly to expect. Riley's suggestions ranged from "let's see who can stand on their head for more than 10 minutes while eating jelly beans" to "let's leave the situation that makes Maya uncomfortable and watch movies and eat popcorn until we die". It was quite the spectrum.

"Let's skip the rest of the way."

Maya arched an eyebrow, but she didn't shoot the proposition down. "You know what, Matthews?"

"What, Hart?"

"You're on."

The two skipped the rest of the way down the street, arms interlocked the entire time. No matter how old they got, skipping down the road with your best friend would never not be fun.

"So..?" Lucas asked, once he was absolutely certain the girls were out of earshot.

Kieran looked a little confused at first, but after Lucas motioned his head to the rambunctious blonde in front of him, the other boy caught on. "Oh, yeah she seems great. Definitely wild." Lucas laughed. Kieran had no idea how spot on he was. "She seems a bit distant, though. Like, I don't think she was all that interested in me, to be honest. She seems wonderful, but I think she's got it bad for someone else." He stared after her, watching as she accidentally veered too far to the right and missed colliding head on with a lamp post, but just barely. "Which really sucks because I probably could have fallen for her."

Lucas pondered that for a moment and eventually nodded. It wasn't like he was wrong. The whole point of them hanging out had been for Maya to get over Josh, but clearly it hadn't gone according to plan. Life never did, he supposed.

* * *

"Shit, I left my keys up on my desk," Josh said, stopping mid step and turning around to hurry back up the stairs. "I'll be right back."

Brittany rolled her eyes and laughed, nodding her head. She sat down on the steps and wrapped her arms around the motorcycle helmet that sat perched on her lap.

Meanwhile, up in the Matthews' apartment Josh was all but full-out sprinting to his room in search of his keys. They were on his desk…he thought. After a few minutes of rooting around amidst the papers and various empty cans of Red Bull, he finally found them.

Brittany probably thought he was an absolute idiot. First he couldn't be bothered to start his assignment until it was basically due and now he couldn't even manage to leave the house without forgetting something as vital as his keys. Clearly he was handling adulthood like a pro.

He walked the rest of the way down the steps, and rounded the corner to the building's door, spying Brittany talking to some people on the concrete stairs. "Hey Brittany, are you ready to go?"

* * *

"Are you waiting for someone?" Riley asked the girl. She was probably around her Uncle Josh's age and she was quite pretty, with thick dark hair and a sunny smile. She wondered what she was doing there.

"Yeah, actually. He just had to run back inside. He forgot his keys." She laughed, and Maya gathered that this was something her boyfriend probably did all the time.

"Hey!" shouted Kieran from behind them. "Wait for us!"

He and Lucas had taken to sprinting in their attempt to catch up with the girls. Skipping had been a far more effective mode of transportation than either of the boys had been prepared to give them credit for.

Lucas moved to put a hand around Riley's waist, and Lucas stood beside Maya, albeit a little awkwardly.

"Hopefully he doesn't leave you waiting too long," Maya said, offering the older girl a smile as she stepped past. She was just about to open the door when it swung open on it's own accord.

"Hey Brittany, are you ready to go?" The figure emerged, holding a motorcycle helmet and a set of keys. His brown hair was slightly mussed, but that only added to his obvious charm.

Of course Maya noticed this. She didn't usually make a habit of checking out other girls' boyfriends, but in this case she was willing to make an exception.

Maya's heart sank.

"Josh?"

* * *

A/N: Okay, I know I'm the worst. I've been working on this chapter for like two weeks and I've been living with really REALLY spotty internet so I haven't been able to finish until now. Hopefully the fact that it is over 4,000 words makes up for the fact that it's like two weeks late. The next update won't take nearly as long (I hope!) and thanks for sticking it out with me!

As always, reviews are greatly appreciated but I just want to say thank you for stopping by and reading! It makes my day!

P.S. Shoutout to Hanna Kritz for being my overflowing fountain of inspiration. If you haven't checked out her Joshaya fics (specifically Time Does Funny Things), you probably should. They are wonderful!

Until next time,

EmilyHelene


	5. Reasonable Explanation

Anyone But Him

_a Girl Meets World story_

by EmilyHelene

Chapter 5: Reasonable Explanation

* * *

"Maya," he breathed, standing completely still. "Riley," he greeted, nearly forgetting that his niece was standing directly behind her best friend. "Lucas, and..?" he trailed off, unable to put a name to the fourth face.

"Hey, Uncle Josh." Riley said, smiling.

"Kieran," Kieran offered with a small wave.

"Kieran," Josh repeated, trying desperately to put two and two together. So this was the mysterious character Maya believed she wasn't remotely good enough for. She had it all wrong. One look at him and Josh was convinced that Maya deserved exactly that, and if he was too stupid to realize how good he had it, he was an idiot who was entirely undeserving of this girl. He was already putting together scenarios in his head, her laughing at something funny he had said to impress her, him walking her home after a movie date and kissing her goodbye on her doorstep. Something flashed through him, envy perhaps, and settled in his stomach. This was all too much. He needed to get out of there. Stat.

As if on cue, Brittany stood up and fitted the helmet over her hair. "Should we get going then, Josh? I have to be back before 12."

Maya's jaw was clenched and she hoped it didn't show too much. This Brittany character seemed like a nice girl, which made her question just what exactly she was doing with Josh. She kept these thoughts to herself of course. This wouldn't be one of those times where her lack of a verbal filter absolutely ruined things for nice people. She would just quietly ruin them for herself instead.

"Yeah," he agreed with a nod. "Let's go. See you later, niece," he said, ruffling his Riley's hair. "Bye Maya." He barely looked at her. Maya did her best not to show it, but inside she was seething.

"We should probably get going," Lucas said, checking the time on his phone. "It's almost curfew for me."

Maya didn't even have it in her to berate Ranger Rick for having a bedtime and that's how Riley knew that whatever was going on with her best friend, was serious.

Riley cast her friend a look, silently begging her to explain things as soon as they were alone. "Later," Maya mouthed so that only Riley saw.

"Well thank you for tonight, Lucas," Riley said, voice dripping with sweetness like liquid sunshine. His face lit up and he smiled, like he couldn't believe the girl standing before him was all his. He shook his head in disbelief.

"Always a pleasure, darling," he said, tipping an invisible cowboy hat. Still, Maya held her tongue. Lucas shot his girlfriend a questioning look, absolutely shocked that he had evaded being the butt of Maya's cowboy jokes not once, but twice that evening.

"Come here," she said, wrapping her hands around his waist and pulling him in close. Her head rested in the crook of his neck and she breathed in his cologne, revelling in the scent of eucalyptus and spearmint she would never get tired of.

"Gladly," he said, bending down to capture her lips with his.

Maya looked over at Kieran apologetically. "Still here!" But even the sound of her voice did little to shake the other two out of their love-induced haze. It was as if they were the only ones there, which would be fine and sweet and romantic if they weren't on a double date.

Kieran merely smiled in response. "They always like this?" he asked her, nudging her shoulder softly.

Maya nodded, a small smile escaping her mouth. "Every day," she said, earning a laugh from the boy beside her. Even though the Josh incident was still fresh in her mind, she couldn't help but laugh along. She envied Riley and Lucas for having it all figured out, leaving her in the dust and more confused than ever.

"I had a lot of fun tonight, Maya," Kieran chose his words carefully, and turned toward her. "I'm glad Lucas invited me along."

"Enjoyed your front row ticket to the Riley and Lucas love fest, then?" she joked, smiling devilishly at him.

"Oh, completely. It was _exactly_ what I had in mind this evening, actually. Did you?"

"Every time is new and exciting," she quipped, playing along.

"Good to know," he said. "But honestly, Maya, I would like to see you again, even if it's just as friends." His voice was serious now, and Maya felt her palms grow warm with uncertainty. She wished, now more than ever, that she could just rid herself of her obviously unrequited feelings for Joshua Matthews. Here was a boy telling her that he hadn't lost interest in her after spending an evening where she had been adequate at best. Her brain screamed at her that this boy could make her happy, if she'd only let her, but her heart refused to listen.

And given who she was, she would listen to the fiery passion in her heart every single time, no matter how much it hurt.

"Friends," she said, mulling that over for a moment. "I'd like that."

Kieran smiled at her, and despite the hints of disappointment in his eyes, it was genuine. He leaned in and pressed his lips to her cheek gently. When he pulled away, he was blushing furiously, which made her smile in spite of herself.

She wished, desperately wished, that a jolt of electricity could have run through her body, sending chills down her spine like it did to those girls in the movies when they finally found Mr. Right. In reality, she felt nothing but guilt. God, she sucked, but if there was one thing Maya refused to settle for, it was love.

That sounded stupid, but it was the only thing of which she was absolutely certain. "Thanks for everything, Kieran. You're a really solid guy, but I don't think I'm what you're looking for."

"Fair enough," he said. "Thanks for being straight up. And sorry for that, whatever that was, I just knew if I didn't do it at least once, I'd probably regret it."

"Yeah, sorry about that." Maya smiled apologetically. "But fair enough. For what it's worth, it was really nice to meet you." She turned away from him and toward the couple a few steps above them, still tangled up in each other. How long had it been? What if Mr. Matthews came down? It didn't matter that Riley was a senior in high school, if her dad walked in on her daughter pressed up against her boyfriend, kissing him like he was the air she needed to breathe, he would probably blow a gasket.

"I thought you had a curfew, Huckleberry?" Maya asked closing the distance between them and poking him none too softly until he and her best friend finally pulled apart, only slightly breathless.

He turned to Riley, offering a small smile. "She's right, Riles. I should go. Call you later?"

Riley nodded, grinning at her boyfriend. "Bye, babe. See you Kieran!" From his spot slightly below them on the steps, Kieran waved. Both girls waved back as Lucas jogged down to meet him.

"See ya, Ranger Rick," Maya said, already making her way toward the doors of the Matthews' building. "Thanks for trying," she added, but only once she knew he was out of earshot.

At least she had tried.

* * *

Riley, to her credit, waited until the two of them were settled in front of the TV in her living room, cuddled up in several blankets with every snack food imaginable in front of them before she told Maya to spill her guts.

"What happened back at the restaurant? I thought you _wanted_ this," Riley said, doe eyes brimming with confusion. Maya knew she wasn't so much concerned with what had happened previously, but rather what was happening _currently_ with Maya.

As much as she didn't want anyone, especially Riley, to know that her feelings for Josh hadn't faded from middle school, she owed the girl an explanation for cutting her date night short and subsequently dragging her away from her boyfriend.

She had tried, really she had, but there was no getting the face of Uncle Boing out of her head. She gave up pursuing him in middle school, shortly after stalking him all the way to a party at NYU, and decided that she had to stop. Fawning embarrassingly over a would-be college boy was doing horrendous things to her street cred and she did not need that looming over her head when high school came around. Just because she had given up chasing him didn't mean she had stopped paying attention to him. If anything, she became more attuned to him than ever before. He had only gotten better looking with age, which was as wonderful as it was frustrating. It seemed like the more time she spent with him, the deeper she fell until she became convinced there was no going back.

And here she was, sitting on Riley's couch two months from graduating high school, and he was still all she could think about.

"I tried, I really did, Riley." Maya's voice was barely above a whisper, and Riley had to turn down the volume on the TV just to catch what she said. Beside her, the blonde girl looked so unsure, so vulnerable, so _unlike herself_, that she knew it could only be one thing.

"You're still not over my uncle, are you?" she asked, treading lightly. "Look, Maya, sometimes things just aren't supposed to-"

"He kissed me," she blurted out, wishing she could take the words back the moment they left the safety of her lips. "Or I kissed him, I'm not really sure-"

Riley felt her eyes nearly bugged out of her head, but she did her best to maintain her composure. The last thing she wanted to do was have Maya close herself off from her feelings again, and if she didn't choose her words carefully, that was exactly what would happen. "Wait, slow down. Even after all this time, you…?"

Maya sighed, and it seemed to fill her entire body. Her voice was smaller than Riley had ever heard it. "Yeah."

She didn't elaborate, but she didn't have to. Riley understood. Of course the whole double date had been a ploy to try, once and for all, to get over Josh and when it failed, Maya was fresh out of options. Judging by her broken expression, there was more to the story than she was letting on.

"Could you at least tell me what happened?" Riley asked gently, scooting closer to Maya and wrapping her arms around her. "I can't help if I don't know what I'm working with here." She had a point, that much was obvious, but actually speaking the words aloud made them that much more real and Maya wasn't sure if she could handle that.

So she took a deep breath before launching herself headfirst into the day that unravelled every last shred of her resolve when it came to Josh.

She told Riley everything, leaving out only the part where she had confessed to Josh how envious she was of Riley's perfect life. The last thing Riley needed to feel was guilty for her own happiness; it wasn't her fault that she and Lucas were perfect for each other and Maya's love life was messier than she was herself.

When it came to Josh, however, she didn't hold back. As much as she hated to admit it, finally telling _someone_ after years of trying to pretend that her feelings didn't exist felt dangerously good. Part of her regretted not going to Riley sooner, she knew she could trust her best friend, of course, but even she had a limit. Now everything was on the table, and the ball was in Riley's court now. Maya was just dying to know what she was going to do with it.

At first, Riley didn't say anything. Instead she just sat there, doing her best to process the bomb that Maya had just dropped while her best friend chewed her bottom lip to shreds out of nerves. _What had Josh been thinking?_

Normally, Riley loved her Uncle Josh. He had coached her little brother, Auggie, in baseball since he was five and taught him everything he knew about pitching. Whenever he had the chance, he would help Riley cram for Calculus and Advanced Functions because he had some God-given talent for numbers no one would ever understand.

But right then, none of that mattered. He had hurt her best friend in the whole world, and right then, she didn't like him. Not one bit.

"I didn't know you still liked him, Maya. Honestly, though, it probably didn't even dawn on him that _he_ was the guy you were talking about. I mean, it was so long ago that you had that huge crush on him, even I had no idea you still felt that way."

"I wish I didn't," Maya admitted, exhaling loudly. "But what I don't understand is why he kissed _me _if he already had _her,_ regardless of any feelings I may or may not have had toward him. I liked him because he _wasn't _a fuckboy, but now I'm not so sure..."

It was certainly uncharacteristic of Josh, of that Riley was certain. He had never been anything but a genuinely nice guy, always walking them home or picking them up from parties when they got in over their heads. Her uncle was responsible when it came to his family and friends, so this whole taking advantage of an insecure and lonely Maya thing didn't make any sense at all.

"There has to be a reasonable explanation for this, I mean-" Riley started. The brunette was about to take a sharp left toward Lollipop town, trying to fix things with Band-Aids and explain just why Josh had been so cruel to someone like her best friend. Maya cut her off abruptly, hitting her hard with a dose of reality.

"Not everything has a reasonable explanation, Riley. It's not some sort of requirement for things." Her tone was cool, and Riley could tell that whatever had allowed Maya to open up before had left just as quickly as it had come. "There's no reasonable explanation for my dad leaving and starting a new family, or why I might not be able to afford university in the fall, or why no matter how hard I try, I can't make myself into the kind of girl who guys want to be with. Some things just are, Riley." She turned away, not wanting her friend to see the beginnings of tears she was doing everything she could to keep from falling. She would not cry over Joshua Matthews anymore. Enough was enough.

Riley could see Maya growing uncomfortable with the whole situation. "I don't want to talk about this anymore, let's just watch the movie," Maya said, exhaustion apparent in her tone. Maybe a distraction would be the best remedy to her confused and slightly battered heart.

"Okay," Riley said, reaching over to give her best friend the hug she needed. "I love you, Maya, and I hope you know that I'm always here for you, no matter what. Even if it is my uncle."

"Love you too, Riles," the older girl said with a laugh.

They had spent a good chunk of the movie just talking, and even though it was a film they'd seen a million times, Riley insisted they rewind it and watch it from the start. Maya agreed, not because she cared about taking in the true integrity of the film by watching it start to finish (as Riley had said), but rather because the longer the movie was, the longer Maya could let herself get caught up in a completely different world where things did have logical explanations.

A world where boys didn't kiss you unexpectedly and then pretend that it had never happened.

That's where Maya wanted to be for as long as possible.

* * *

A/N: This is a short one, I know. Also I'm awful for the length of time between updated...I'm working on it I swear! As always, reviews are great and I hope you enjoyed the chapter! This is not one of my best, but the juicy stuff's coming up soon, I promise!

Until next time (which is hopefully sooner than this time was),

EmilyHelene


	6. Act and React

Anyone But Him

a Girl Meets World story

by EmilyHelene

Ch. 6: Act and React

* * *

Despite all her talk about preserving the integrity of the film by watching it all the way through, Riley promptly fell asleep roughly twenty-five minutes into 13 Going On 30 leaving Maya to brave the sappy, sugary sweet love story with the perfect happy ending all by herself.

The Matthews residence was completely dark, the only light coming from the bay window behind them, giving Maya far too much time to think about things she knew she shouldn't. Some stones were better left unturned, after all. Still, she couldn't shake the fact that she had _kissed_ him. Or he had kissed her. She still wasn't sure, but either way, it had _happened, _no matter how much she tried to ignore it. There had been so many things rushing through her brain after Josh left, too many to sort. Confusion, excitement, disappointment, but mostly confusion.

It wasn't like she hadn't been kissed before. She was 18 years old, for crying out loud, but being kissed in a drunken haze at a party in some senior's garage in her sophomore year didn't really count, especially when the guy who had given it to her didn't even know her name and was found latched onto Bethany Summers, the easiest girl in school, later that night. Guys had kissed her because of how she looked, or how she walked around and oozed confidence. No one had ever kissed her because they actually _wanted _her. No one, not even Riley, knew how much she just wanted a guy to completely fall head over heels for _her_.

Scratch that.

There was one person who knew, but seeing as he was the source of her most recent problem, she did what she did best: she pretended he wasn't there.

The tricky thing about Josh, though, was that he was not the kind of person you could just shake. After four years of being completely enraptured by his very presence, Maya knew this well. She had been trying to shake him for years and even though she had made it less obvious to everyone else (to salvage some of her dignity), she couldn't hide it from herself.

Not that any of that mattered now. He had Brittany, and from the looks of things, she was absolutely stunning, funny, sweet, and would probably be really good for a guy like Josh whose heart was so big, all he needed was someone to share it with. Sure, Maya knew she wasn't a bad catch either, certain issues aside, but Brittany had one thing that Maya would never have.

She was Josh's age, and as far as most people were concerned, that was all she needed to become the obvious choice for Josh.

It was stupid, three years was nothing. The timing of their respective parents getting laid shouldn't have carried as much weight as it did.

And then there was the movie. Don't even get her started on the cliched plot line and far-fetched scenarios, about ending up falling in love with the kid who had been next door all along, waiting patiently to be noticed. If anything, it made her want to vomit. Sure, Riley had meant well, but real life didn't work out the way that it did in movies, unless of course, your name was Riley Matthews.

She wished she could just fast-forward through the messy bits, figure her life out and just get on with it. She'd had enough heartbreak to last a lifetime and silly as it was, the whole concept of wishing on a magic dream house with wishing dust and waking up at thirty with your shit all sorted wasn't as ridiculous as it seemed. It would be nice, actually, not to have to worry about college and relationships, but having money and enough independence to live life the way that she wanted to for once.

Even though the kiss had filled her with a fuzzy warmth that made her weak in the knees, it would be so much easier if it had never happened. But was easy always better? If there was one piece of advice her mother had given her, it was that everything happened for a reason, even if you didn't understand why at the time. Maya hoped for her own sake that the universe wasn't just playing a sick joke on her, and that she'd figure it out sooner rather than later.

Maya was promptly thrown from her thoughts when she heard a key jiggle in the lock. She froze, knowing that any moment Josh would walk through the door and she was 100% certain that she had absolutely no idea what to do. She hoped that Brittany girl hadn't changed her mind about breaking curfew and come back to spend the night with Riley's uncle, because that would just about tip Maya over the edge. It was bad enough that he had a _girlfriend,_ she didn't want to hear Josh shouting her name in ecstasy while she was trying to sleep on the couch. Either way, Josh was coming through the door and she needed to figure out how to react.

The way she saw it, she had two options. She could acknowledge Josh as soon as he set foot in the living room, asking him how his date with Brittany went and playing nice, smiling sweetly and trying to wade through the awkwardness that would no doubt ensue. Or, she could pretend to be asleep and sidestep the conversation and confrontation entirely.

Naturally, she did what she did best: shut her eyes and avoided the uncomfortable situation at all costs. She heard the door swing open and listened as Josh hung up the helmets and his jacket. His footsteps echoed, growing louder and louder as he reached the couch. Maya's breath caught in her throat, panic rising in her chest._ What was he doing? _

"Sweet dreams, Riles," Josh whispered, pressing a kiss to the top of Riley's head. Her eyes were closed delicately, her mouth turned up in the tiniest of sleepy smiles. His niece was adorable. He stood over the two girls for a moment, chuckling softly at their choice in movies. Guess you never really did outgrow the movies you watched as a kid.

Against his better judgement, he spent a moment too long taking in Maya's sleeping form. She was tucked into a blanket and she had fallen asleep with a few errant pieces of popcorn in her blonde curls. Unlike his niece, Maya looked far from peaceful. Her brow was creased ever so slightly, like she had fallen asleep with too much on that beautiful mind of hers and then more than ever, he longed to take all the pain away.

There was so much he wanted to say to her, so much he wanted to do, but he couldn't bring himself to open his mouth. It was too big a risk, and while Josh wasn't usually the type to shy away from a challenge, this time was different. He couldn't bear to add to the stresses in her life, especially when she was already seeing someone else anyway.

If she was happy, he was happy for her. Sure, it stung a little bit, but it was nothing compared to how he felt sitting next to her listening to her verbalize so many insecurities and longing to make them all go away. At least this way she would smile.

When he finally did turn away to go to bed, he heard a voice cut through the silence and chill him right to his very core.

She just couldn't hold it in anymore. Enough was enough. She needed to stop tiptoeing around the issue and face it head on. That was the only way it was ever going to get any better. "No goodnight for me, then?" The words sounded much more confident than she would have thought possible, a pleasant surprise.

He turned to see her eyes wide open, sitting upright on the couch, the blanket no longer wrapped around her like a shield from the rest of the world. "That's rather impolite of you, wouldn't you say?"

Josh's smile was guilty, and completely hot, but Maya did her best to stick to her guns. No letting her guard down this time. He ran a hand through his hair nervously. It reminded her of Christmas with the Matthews all those years ago and it took all the self control she had not to smile at the memory.

"I guess you're right," he said, "Goodnight, Maya." With that, he turned to walk away. He had almost made it to the stairs when Maya's voice rang out once again.

"She seems really great, by the way."

"Who?" he wondered aloud, confusion painting his features. "Oh," he said, recognition registering in his voice and on his face. "Brittany?"

"Unless you recall being with another pretty girl this evening?" He did, in fact. Maya had been there during the entire exchange, and she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

His voice turned serious. "I could say the same about your guy. How'd you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Finally get him to notice you. He's the guy you were telling me about, right?"

Maya paused. She wanted desperately to tell him that she hadn't even known Kieran existed until that very afternoon, that the boy who consumed her thoughts was standing right in front of her, that the person she wanted more than anyone else in the entire world already belonged to someone else. But that meant admitting weakness, and she swore up and down it was something she would never show. She waited a split-second too long to give her answer. "Of course."

He sensed the hesitation in her voice and covered the distance between them in a few seconds.

There was a hopeful twinkle in his eyes that made her want to punch him and kiss him simultaneously. "Is that your final answer?"

_Fuck it. _

"What do you want to hear Josh? That I've been waiting for you to come around and sweep me off my feet like a princess? Newsflash, nothing about my life is a fairytale, you should know that better than anyone. Do you want to hear that _you're _the guy I've been trying to get to notice me for as long as I can remember? Don't you have enough girls pining after you, enough hearts to go step on without throwing mine in there too?" Though her voice was scarcely above a whisper, her tone was laced with venom. She had basically admitted her feelings for him, it didn't feel the way she thought it would. Instead, she felt _good. _It felt good to get it off her chest, like it was no longer something she was holding inside. Now it was his problem too.

"Maya-"

"No, don't you Maya me. Fuck _you, _Josh. You've already got Brittany, why do you give a shit about what my feelings are?"

Josh stood there frozen and let her words wash over him. "Maya, let me explain. Brittany's just a girl from my program, she was helping me with a project earlier and literally saved my ass, so I told her I'd buy ice cream as a thank you."

Maya rolled her eyes. "You could at least be honest with me, or is that too hard for you?" She wasn't even sure where all this rage was coming from, but it felt damn good and she wasn't about to stop. "You know, even though I haven't had the best luck with guys, I'm absolutely _fine _with who I am. I know my worth, and I know it's much better than this," she hissed. "Whatever this is, I'm done with it."

With that, she turned on her heel and walked over to the door, not bothering to listen to the sound of shoes on the hardwood floors as Josh came racing after her.

There was no way he was letting her go that easily, not after a confession like that. While she may have hated his guts just then, his feelings for her had never been stronger. He knew he had one shot at this, and unlike all the other times before, this time he was going to take it.

* * *

A/N: Sorry not sorry for the cliffhanger! Hopefully you enjoyed the update, it is terribly short and for that you have my sincerest apologies, but try not to hate me too much. As always, I love hearing what you guys think and if you have any ideas, send them my way! I don't know what Maya and Josh will do until I sit down to write the next chapter...sort of. Have a lovely day!

Emily


	7. Get Lost

Anyone But Him

_a Girl Meets World story_

by: EmilyHelene

* * *

Chapter 7: Get Lost

* * *

The next dozen steps or so were a blur for Josh as he raced to catch up with the very person who he was sure was doing her absolutely best to evade him. Well, him and one very necessary, but very scary conversation he still couldn't believe they needed to have. It had been years and somewhere between the end of high school and the middle of university, he'd somehow lead himself to believe that there was absolutely no way in this world or any other, that Maya's childish middle school crush could have lain dormant and blossomed into something more now that they were older.

Not that he was even _remotely_ good enough for her, but when it came to her, he just couldn't help himself. That was what had gotten the both of them into this whole mess in the first place. Before he could finish cleaning it up, however, she'd run off and taken his deepest confession with her. Now she knew exactly what he had spent years trying to hide from her, from everyone, and the only person he had to blame for it was himself for telling him.

Finally opening your heart up to the girl you're in love with, only to have her cut it out and run away with it. It was pretty fitting irony, or at least he probably would have thought so if he took the time to really mull it over. Right now, he was too busy running out of breath and out of time before she disappeared for good.

When he finally reached the lobby, after all but tripping down the stairs, his heart sank. It was empty, aside from a few mailboxes brimming with letters and bills their recipients had yet to retrieve. His feet dragged across the linoleum floors, freshly polished to a glossy sheen, as he pulled himself toward the door and the cool night time breeze.

It took the rest of his energy to push his body against the door and press it open. The cool breeze danced across his face immediately, a fresh set of goosebumps appearing across his skin in its wake. She _had_ to be out there somewhere.

As it turned out, she wasn't on the steps as he'd originally thought. Or walking down the sidewalks, or hidden from view next to the gargantuan planters the Matthews' neighbours insisted on placing beside their own front walk-up. Wherever she had gone, she had made it painstakingly clear that she did not want to be found.

He ran a hand through his messy brown locks and let out a deep sigh. He had been _so close _and then he had let her slip through his fingers again. If it had been Riley he had been chasing after, he knew exactly where she could have gone. Any place aside from Greenwich Village past dark would scare the living shit out of his niece, even at 18, but Maya had never been afraid of the city, especially after dark.

He had no idea where someone who was well-versed in the art of escaping could have ventured off to that late at night, so he did the only thing he could think of.

He took the steps back up to the building two at a time, racing up the two flights of stairs until he reached the Matthews' apartment and burst through the door. His stuff was exactly where he had left it, so he tucked one helmet under his arm and fitted the other snugly against his own head. He snatched his keys off of the hook by the door, and took off running again.

His bike was still parked out in front of the building from his earlier jaunt into the city with Brittany. God, that seemed like it had been ages earlier when in actuality, it had only been a matter of minutes. A sense of determination washed over him, doing little to loosen the nervous knots in his stomach, but he pushed on anyway.

Wherever she was, he just hoped that she was safe. She had a habit of getting herself into less than desirable situations and he prayed to God that this wasn't one of those times.

The rev of the motorbike's engine cut through the peaceful silence that had befallen the street, but he didn't care.

Wherever Maya was, he was going to find her and bring her home safely.

* * *

She couldn't remember how long she'd been walking, but she didn't care. The air was growing colder with each step, and a bitter chill had begun to nip at the bare skin that wasn't covered by her pyjama shorts and thin long sleeve t-shirt. She rubbed her hands up and down her arms, trying to rid them of the goosebumps that had started to appear the moment she'd rounded the corner away from the Matthews' apartment building.

She may have slowed to a walk once she suspected she was finally out of Josh's sight, but her mind was still racing a mile a minute trying to make sense of what he had said.

She wanted to believe him, to fall into his arms and never look back, but it was more complicated than that. More complicated than she could even begin to understand. She wasn't full of hope like Riley; she was a realist. And as a realist, she knew that no matter how many times she had walked routes similarly to this at similar hours of the night, she was absolute shit when it came to direction.

And she was very, very lost. Of _course_, this would happen to her today. She just couldn't catch a break, it seemed.

She was several blocks from the Matthews' place, that she did know, and the road in front of her took a sharp right at the corner of an ancient and expensive looking apartment building. She followed the path, content to just keep on walking until she found something she recognized or needed to take a break.

How could she have let things get this bad? It would have been so much easier if Josh had never kissed her, or if she had never kissed him. She was still a little foggy on the specifics, given the fact that her brain practically turned to mush as soon as it had happened, whether she cared to admit it or not. This was one risk she hadn't wanted to take. When it came to skipping class, or skirting the law here and there, Maya didn't really care that much. She never got caught and was never really responsible for her actions. When it came to stuff like this, she was 100% accountable and 0% ready to face that accountability.

After the turn, she found herself wandering off the path toward a little park nestled in a treed area between two brownstones. At this time of night it was completely deserted, as it should have been. Grateful for the silence, Maya made her way over to the swings and sat down, drawing circles in the sand with the toe of her shoes. She watched as the grains swallowed up her foot before it burst through again, sending a shower of sand into the air.

What she wouldn't give to be a kid again. No real cares or worries, everything seemed so much bigger and more terrifying than it was. Growing up just wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Sure, you got to make the rules, but you also had to follow them and make decisions, and sometimes you got hurt and your mum wasn't always going to be there with a Band-Aid to make it all better. As an adult, you had to look after yourself and it absolutely sucked.

Her thoughts travelled to Josh errantly and without intent. He had been doing the whole adult thing for a few years now, and he always seemed put together (with the one exception of that stupid conversation by the window) and in charge of his life. Maya envied him for it.

It finally dawned on her to check her phone, now that her getaway was beginning to lose its initial lustre. Everything got boring eventually, after all. Three missed calls, seven texts, and a voicemail. All from Josh.

Out of sheer curiosity, she hit play on the voicemail and listened as Josh's voice came pouring through the two little speakers at the bottom of her phone. She tried to convince herself that she didn't care what he said, but even she couldn't ignore her heart leaping at the mere sound of his voice.

"Maya, it's late and not knowing where you are is freaking me out. I _need _to know where you are. I'm sorry to have made you spill your guts like that, that was low, but when I saw there was a chance, even a tiny one, that you may have felt something for me, I knew I'd be a fool not to take it. You're right, you know. You're worth so much better than any of the shit you've been through, and I should never have added to it. I'm sorry for being a selfish asshole, but for a girl like you-" his voice, once confident, lowered to scarcely above a whisper, "-for you, I'd do anything."

She replayed the message four times, struggling to convince herself that it was real and that what he'd been saying hadn't just been pointless sappy shit to try and make her come home so he wouldn't get his ass beaten by the entire Matthews family plus Farkle and Lucas. For all she knew, it could have all been a rouse, but something in his voice made her think otherwise.

She wasn't even sure how long she'd been sitting there when all of a sudden, the rev of an engine cut through the night like a knife through butter. It startled her and she gripped the chains on the swing tighter than necessary. She wasn't sure why she was so on edge; cars drove around NYC at night all the time.

Her heart stopped when she saw that it wasn't, in fact, a car pulling up to the curb between the two buildings on either side of her. It was a motorcycle and when the driver took off his helmet, she froze.

The bastard had actually found her.

* * *

_"Maya!" _he cried, tossing his helmet to the side and taking off toward her in a full sprint. He had never been more relieved to see someone in his entire life and that was when he knew that there was no getting over Maya Hart.

She was sitting on a swing, rocking back and forth when she looked up at him, her expression unreadable. She stood up when he reached her and stuffed her hands in the pocket of her NYU hoodie.

He threw his arms around her, breathing her in and holding her as close to him as he could. He felt her wrap her arms around his back and nestle her head underneath his chin and that was all it took.

He had known she would be okay, of course, but standing in front of her and knowing with absolute certainty that nothing had happened to her was so much better.

"Never do that to me again," he whispered, pulling back and resting his hand under her chin. "You scared the living shit out of me."

"Good," she said.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for my atrocious update delay...I just started a full time job that has me working around the clock (which sucks, but money for school is necessary!) and I hope you enjoyed this new chapter! I have plans for two more plus a one-shot, here's hoping I can have it finished before I start school again in September!

Emily


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